The Columbian

Science & Technology

People watch the live broadcast of the SpaceIL spacecraft as it lost contact with Earth in Netanya, Israel, Thursday, April 11, 2019.

Israeli spacecraft crashes on moon minutes before touchdown

April 11, 2019, 9:29pm Science & Technology

An Israeli spacecraft crashed into the moon Thursday just moments before touchdown, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history as the first privately funded lunar landing. Read story

Buzz Aldrin’s outer visor and gloves worn while walking on the moon are displayed near a photo of Aldrin at “Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission” exhibit at the Museum of Flight, Thursday in Seattle. The exhibit, opening Saturday, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the U.S. manned moon landing on July 20, 1969.

Apollo 11 exhibit in Seattle opens this weekend

April 11, 2019, 9:21pm Northwest

“Destination Moon,” the Apollo 11 exhibit at the Museum of Flight, is opening this weekend. Read story

This image released Wednesday, April 10, 2019, by Event Horizon Telescope shows a black hole. Scientists revealed the first image ever made of a black hole after assembling data gathered by a network of radio telescopes around the world.

Scientists reveal first image ever made of a black hole

April 10, 2019, 1:01pm Nation & World

Scientists on Wednesday revealed the first image ever made of a black hole, depicting a fiery orange and black ring of gravity-twisted light swirling around the edge of the abyss. Read story

In this Feb. 7, 2016 file photo, tourists walk past waterfalls at the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. The Fox and Franz Josef glaciers have been melting at such a rapid rate that it has become too dangerous for tourists to hike onto them from the valley floor, ending a tradition that dates back a century.

Global warming is shrinking glaciers faster than thought

April 8, 2019, 10:19am Nation & World

Earth’s glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America. Read story

Tech titans declare AI ethics concerns

April 7, 2019, 10:00pm Nation & World

The biggest tech companies want you to know that they’re taking special care to ensure that their use of artificial intelligence to sift through mountains of data, analyze faces or build virtual assistants doesn’t spill over to the dark side. Read story

In this computer graphics image released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is seen above on the asteroid Ryugu. Japan's space agency JAXA said Friday, April 5, 2019, its Hayabusa2 spacecraft released an explosive onto an asteroid to make a crater on its surface and collect underground samples to find possible clues to the origin of the solar system. The mission is the riskiest for Hayabusa2, as it has to immediately get away so it won't get hit by flying shards from the blast.

Japan spacecraft drops explosive on asteroid to make crater

April 5, 2019, 7:09am Nation & World

Japan’s space agency said an explosive dropped Friday from its Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully blasted the surface of an asteroid for the first time to form a crater and pave the way for the collection of underground samples for possible clues to the origin of the solar system. Read story

Amphibian apocalypse worse than scientists realized

April 2, 2019, 6:02am Life

There is a plague ripping through the amphibian species of the world. It’s caused by fungus that’s invisible to the naked eye and spreads easily by many means. It kills by disrupting the way these creatures breathe through their skin, essentially suffocating frogs and salamanders. Read story